Hello again, free music fans!
Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #30! For those of you who are unaware of
the Flatbasset Radio format, here's what you're looking at:
TCDroogsma is our resident MP3 junkie. As you've probably noticed in
his Songs Of The Week column, he's not always the most positive music
fan. In an effort to prove that he is, in fact, a fan of music, we
give him an hour each week to play the songs he's digging and talk a
little bit about them. Once he's recorded his podcast we put it
right here on the website for free to stream and/or download!
In this week's episode TCDroogsma travels to St. Paul to record the podcast with MinneSarah. Along the way they discuss Droogsy's "practical hypocrisy," wonder what would happen if Sondre Lerche dated Miley Cyrus, play a bunch of songs by "lil' dudes," wonder about MC Hammer's motives, lament the upcoming Jarvis Cocker-less year, discuss one of the Twin Cities bright, young rappers, wonder how Kelley Deal got hotter than her twin sister, shout out their favorite vegan chef, whore out for that Breville money, and discuss the connection between their high school chemistry teacher and this week's Flatbasset Flatclassic!
You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title
or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.
01. Pavement - Stereo 02. Breton - Envy 03. The Neptunes (w/Clipse) - Hot Damn 04. Sondre Lerche - Wrecking Ball 05. Allan Kingdom - Good Problems 06. The Hood Internet - Reflekt You Tonight 07. Darlia - Queen Of Hearts 08. R. Ring - Salt 09. Cult Choir - Get Down 10. Kool A.D. - V 11. Ty Segall Band - I Bought My Eyes 12. Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends
There you have it, music fans! Enjoy!
For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are
archived on his Mixcloud page. Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.
For more MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter (@MinneSarah). She can also be found right here on Newest Industry filing reports out of St. Paul for our Big Day Out column
For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors. More importantly, we have a Facebook page here. Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.
Well hello again, mp3 junkies. How ya been? Staying warm? Good, you know we worry about you.
Welcome to the Ninth Edition of Songs Of The Week. Yet again we've asked MinneSarah & TCDroogsma to give us their thoughts on last week's Song Of The Day podcast from MPR's The Current. As always, click on this link to subscribe to the podcast and play along at home.
Also, as always, MinneSarah & TCDroogsma have note read each other's comments before this post.
Take it away kids!
01. Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue (from the album Bootlegs)
MinneSarah:
Is Sondre Lerche still beautiful? If
he is, I'd liken this track to Matthew McConoughey's drunken naked
bongo session. Oh, he's still going? I'm partial, because
this song is my favorite! Okay, it's the only Sondre Lerche song that I
know. What could make this song better Sondre? Why don't
you release it in lower sound quality, add another three minutes of
guitar noodling, and some screaming fans to show you are still
relevant. If I could rename this track, I'd call it, "Live Guitar Monologue."
TCDroogsma:
Back in the mid-aughties I fell real hard for the studio version of this song. Everything about it appealed to the person I was back then (take that for what you will). Unfortunately, when I started digging into the Sondre Lerche catalog I found that he was prone to genre-hopping in the worst way. His baroque album with The Faces Down Quartet is one of the worst albums in my collection.
This live version of such a perfect song is disheartening. Basically it's all the worst things about Sondre Lerche rolled into one. Instead of riding the perfectly constructed hooks of the original we're subjected to stupid guitar breakdowns and extended musical wandering. Maybe this was fun at the actual show, but who thought putting this out on an album was a good idea? Christ, dude, just stick to what you're good at - hooks on hooks on hooks.
Final Score: MinneSarah - 1/5 TCDroogsma - 2/5
02. Ben Folds Five - Do It Anyway (from the albumThe Sound Of The Life Of The Mind)
MinneSarah:
Well, Ben Folds sure does play piano.
I prefer screaming, loud guitar, saloon piano, fast tempo Ben
Folds to any of their slower tracks, and this song takes me back a
couple decades. However, instead of being just one of the guys,
the chorus makes Ben Folds sound down right like he's yelling at his
kids. I felt guilty, like, I really don't want to review this
song. Okay, dad, I'm doing it..anyway. If I could rename
this song, it would be, "Because I Said So."
TCDroogsma:
I'm excited for Ben Folds Five reunion in the same way I'm excited for a Dishwalla reunion. I mean, c'mon, who was sitting at home thinking to themselves, "Damn! You know who I really miss? Those guys who sang that song about abortion!" In all honesty, I consider myself a Ben Folds fan. The first couple BFF albums were great and I really liked his solo debut Rockin' The Suburbs. But why bring the career back this way? Seems to me that the logical career arc for Ben Folds would've been, "Kinda-interesting-piano-band" to "Kinda-serious-adult-contemporary" to "Late-night-talk-show-band-leader." I mean, he ain't The Roots, but why look backwards.
That said, Robert Sledge's bass still sounds fantastic.
Final Score: MinneSarah - 2/5 TCDroogsma - 2.5/5
03. Poor Moon - Birds (from the album Poor Moon)
MinneSarah:
This is one of those beachy hippie
songs. It sounds like some kids got together in the band room
at UC Irvine and used the xylophone and timpani to tell the story of
what they did last summer. The vocals are mellow and have a
dreamy quality to them. If I could rename this song, I'd call
it, "I Got Some Underneath That Creepy Oak Tree."
TCDroogsma:
Great, some guys from Fleet Foxes have a side project that sounds exactly like Fleet Foxes. Oh, and it's about a tree Wait, not a tree, but the memory of the time they were at a tree. Just shoot me in the fucking head.
Final Score: MinneSarah - 2/5 TCDroogsma - 0/5
04. Beth Orton - Magpie (from the album Sugaring Season)
MinneSarah:
Beth Orton's signature vocals have not
changed since "Stolen Car" and I appreciate that
consistency. There is something fairly epic about how her singing
works with the piano and violin, and that's coming from a gal whose
never been nor would ever go to Lilith Fair. She does a good
job pulling together usually annoying musical elements and creating
something that could easily showcase a strong female lead in a movie
soundtrack. If I renamed this song, I'd call it, "I Won't Turn Back For Anyone And Not Just Because You're A Liar!"
TCDroogsma:
Is this what Beth Orton always sounded like or am I just not remembering her old stuff correctly? Didn't it used to be kind of understated with some electro-blips? This squawky-singing-and-fiddle-combinationsounds like Tori Amos if she'd downed a bottle of gin. I can't believe Ryan Adams wrote a song about this woman.
Final Score: MinneSarah - 3.5/5 TCDroogsma - 1/5
05. Toussaint Morrison - Can't Relive The Party (from the album Toussaint Morrison Is Not My Boyfriend)
MinneSarah:
This song is a compilation of
everything that is trendy in the Motown revival meets Michael Franti
world (it's now a real place). This kid has lots of style, so I can
forgive the trendiness. The keyboards are very Mates of State,
which is a nice touch. He ends the song by rapping about
picking up college girls, likely at the U of M. I'll bet he
doesn't have much trouble. If I could rename this song, I'd call
it,"Mayer Hawthorne Told Me Switch The Style Up And If They Hate Then Let Them Hate And Watch The Money Pile Up."
TCDroogsma:
If Cee-Lo and The Weeknd had a kid it would be this song. Morrison gets real upbeat over the instrumental from Generationals "When They Fight, They Fight," which isn't a bad move at all. On paper, combining those three things seems like a good idea. Turns out the actual sum of the equation "Cee-Lo + The Weeknd + Indie Pop" is "Bruno Mars!" And, frankly, we need another Bruno Mars like we need more Fleet Foxes side projects.
Final Score: MinneSarah - 2.5/5 TCDroogsma -1/5 Well there you have it everybody, another week of songs downloaded, processed, and judged harshly. Thank to MinneSarah & TCDroogsma for giving us their thoughts. Of course Newest Industry is in no way affiliated with any of these artists, their labels, The Current or Minnesota Public Radio. We just like to judge things.
Be sure to vote for which of these songs stood the tallest in our poll to the right. For more of the ever-charming MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter and/or Instagram (@MinneSarah). She's in the midst of a pretty epic Rocktober right now. For more of TCDroogsma you can give him a follow on Twitter and/or Instagram (@TCDroogsma) or check out his personal blog Flatbasset. Despite our best efforts he's still writing blog posts about Morrissey songs. And, lastly, this blog is on the Twitter (@NewestIndustry1), which you should follow to stay up on new material. We're also on Facebook here. Stop by and give us a 'like.' We don't ask for much.
